US launches strikes in Nigeria

 
The US has launched strikes against militants linked to the Islamic State group (IS) in north-western Nigeria, where militants have sought to establish a foothold.

Camps run by the group in Sokoto state, which lies on Nigeria's border with Niger, were hit, the US military said, adding that an "initial assessment" suggested "multiple" fatalities.

US President Donald Trump said the Christmas Day strikes had been "deadly" and labelled the group "terrorist scum", saying it had been "targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians".

Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Maitama Tuggar told the BBC it was a "joint operation" and had "nothing to do with a particular religion".

Tuggar said the strikes had been planned "for quite some time" using intelligence provided by Nigeria. He also did not rule out further strikes.
Referencing the timing of the strikes - which took place late on Thursday - he said they did not have "anything to do with Christmas, it could be any other day - it is to do with attacking terrorists who have been killing Nigerians".

The Nigerian government has for years been fighting an array of jihadist groups, which includes Boko Haram and IS-linked factions, but largely in the north-east, hundreds of miles away from Sokoto state.

A resident in the village of Jabo, Haruna Kallah, told AFP news agency: "We heard a loud explosion which shook the whole town and everyone was scared."

Another local resident, Umar Jabo, told BBC News : "Everyone thought it was a plane. It crashed in fields."

His comment was backed up by social media images that showed people standing in a field filming the burning aftermath of the attack.

Umar Jabo denied any IS fighters had been killed: "Here in Jabo, we live peacefully, and there is no conflict between us and Christians."

The Trump administration has previously accused the Nigerian government of failing to protect Christians from jihadist attacks and has claimed a "genocide" is being perpetrated.

Trump has labelled Nigeria a "country of particular concern", a designation used by the US state department that provides for sanctions against countries "engaged in severe violations of religious freedom".

The US military was ordered to prepare to intervene in Nigeria in November.

At the time, an adviser to Nigerian President Bola Tinubu told BBC News that militants had targeted people "across faiths", and said any US military action should be carried out jointly.

Groups monitoring violence say there is no evidence to suggest that Christians are being killed more than Muslims in Nigeria, which is divided roughly evenly between followers of the two religions.

In a social media post late on Christmas Day confirming the strikes, Trump said that he would "not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper".

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday that he was "grateful for Nigerian government support & cooperation".

"Merry Christmas!" he added, writing on X.

The Pentagon later posted a short video that appeared to show a missile being launched from a ship.

On Friday morning, the Nigerian foreign ministry said authorities were engaged in "security co-operation with international partners, including the United States of America, in addressing the persistent threat of terrorist and violent extremism".

"This has led to precision hits on terrorist targets in Nigeria by air strikes in the North West," the statement added.

Jihadist groups such as Boko Haram and IS-linked offshoots have wrought havoc in north-eastern Nigeria for more than a decade, killing thousands of people.

Most victims have been Muslims, according to Acled, a group that analyses political violence around the world.

Nigerian human rights lawyer and conflict analyst Bulama Bukati speculated that Thursday's strikes had targeted a relatively new IS-aligned splinter group, which originated in the Sahel region and has recently moved its fighters to Nigeria.

The largest IS-linked group in Nigeria - Islamic State West Africa Province - operates in the north-east of the country, he told BBC World Service, while the smaller group - known locally as Lakurawa - has sought to establish a base in north-western Sokoto state.

He continued: "They started slipping into Nigeria in 2018 but over the past 18 months or two years they established camps in Sokoto state and Kebbi state.

"They have been launching attacks and imposing their social laws over people in Sokoto state over the past 18 months or so."

Local lawmaker Bashar Isah Jabo was adamant that the village had no IS or Lakurawa members at all, and he said the area where the missile fell was less than 500m (1,600ft) from a hospital.

According to BBC Monitoring, a pro-IS social media channel has been reporting on regular US reconnaissance flights in Sokoto, as well as in the north-eastern state of Borno, where the Nigeria's largest IS-linked group has its stronghold.

The Nigeria strikes are the second major US intervention targeting IS in recent weeks.

Last week, the US said it had carried out a "massive strike" against IS in Syria.

US Central Command (Centcom) said fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery had struck more than 70 targets. Aircraft from Jordan were also involved.

Those strikes were launched in retaliation for the killing of three Americans - two soldiers and a civilian interpreter - in an ambush.